Nonsubstantive Change Request (AQE Focus Groups)

2010 Census Program for Evaluations and Experiments

2010 Alternative Questionnaire Experiment Focus Groups

Non-substantive Change Request

OMB Approval Number 0607-0952

July 01, 2010

The Census Bureau requests a non-substantive change to the Generic Clearance for the 2010 Census Program for Evaluations and Experiments (CPEX) (OMB approval number 0607-0952). This request is for approval to conduct a follow-on data collection as part of the 2010 Census Alternative Questionnaire Experiment (AQE), which OMB has approved under the aforementioned generic clearance. This follow-on data collection consists of a series of focus groups, and it will require an increase in the number of burden hours allowed under the Generic Clearance for the 2010 CPEX.

In accordance with OMB’s approval of this request, the Census Bureau plans to submit an Individual Clearance Request (ICR) for this data collection to OMB near the beginning of calendar year 2011, which is close to the start of the actual data collection. The forthcoming ICR will include final versions of all data collection materials, which will reflect any comments from OMB that result from reviews of draft materials conducted earlier in 2010.

2010 Census Alternative Questionnaire Experiment - Focus Groups

The overall goal of the 2010 AQE study is to continue efforts to improve a user-friendly mailout questionnaire that can be accurately completed by respondents. More specifically, the 2010 AQE will test different strategies to collect race and Hispanic origin data from Census respondents. While the 2010 AQE, as currently designed, will demonstrate how respondents answer various race and Hispanic origin treatments, it lacks information on why they respond as they do.

To provide this qualitative data, the Census Bureau will hire a contractor to conduct 67 focus groups with numerous race and ethnic groups to explore quantitative results from the 2010 AQE as well as racial and ethnic identity. The contractor, in collaboration with the Census Bureau, will prepare moderator guides for the focus group sessions. The guides will be based on preliminary 2010 AQE quantitative results as well as identity and research issues for that particular race or ethnic group.

The focus groups will be broken down by race and ethnic origin so that issues that impact specific racial and ethnic groups can be explored. Each focus group participant will answer the race and Hispanic origin question(s) from one of the experimental forms for each household member. Sex, relationship, and age will also be reported for each household member. Respondents may also be shown one or more other treatments. Respondents will then discuss the treatments as well as racial and ethnic identity issues.

These focus groups serve four main purposes:

• Help determine why respondents answer a certain way to gain insight into why certain treatments may perform well or not;

• Help explain patterns observed in 2010 AQE quantitative data;

• Target small race and ethnic groups that may not be well represented in the 2010 AQE; and

• Explore areas of research that may require further examination during the 2020 testing cycle.

The Census Bureau considers this data collection to be a non-substantive change because these focus groups are based on the 2010 AQE and will help the Census Bureau to interpret quantitative findings of the study. Even though this specific activity was unforeseen when the Census Bureau originally asked OMB for approval to conduct the 2010 AQE, the Census Bureau believes that it fits within the scope of the 2010 AQE (and thus the Generic Clearance for the 2010 CPEX).

Procedures for Data Collection

The contractor chosen by the Census Bureau to conduct this work will select focus group participants to represent groups within OMB race and ethnic categories (The Census Bureau will not require participants to have responded to the 2010 AQE to be in a focus group). For example, in the ‘White’ category, the contractor will conduct separate focus groups with people of Middle Eastern, North African, or European descent. The contractor will also recruit respondents from geographically diverse areas to account for possible geographic differences in racial and ethnic identification. The reader can find a detailed description of each group, including a rationale for the inclusion of that group, in the attached document. The document also includes locations of the groups.

Each focus group will consist of 10-12 participants and will last approximately two hours. The Census Bureau expects the contractor to conduct a total of 67 focus groups. Focus groups will occur from mid-January 2011 through the end of April 2011. Respondents will be paid a maximum of $75 for their participation in the focus groups. Video recordings of focus group sessions will be used to create transcripts of the sessions that will be used for analysis.

Assurance of Confidentiality

Information collected during the focus groups is not classified as Title 13 data. Recruitment information will be treated as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) ,and it will have handling restrictions. All report summaries will provide respondent anonymity, using designators such as ‘Participant 1, Participant 2’. All data will be returned to the Census Bureau at the conclusion of the contract.

Estimate of Burden Hours

Experiment/Evaluation	Total # of Respondents	Estimated Response Time	Estimated Burden Hours
2010 AQE Focus Groups	804	2 hours	1608

Currently, the CPEX Generic Clearance has a balance of 758 unused burden hours. Therefore, this request is for 850 hours, which is the balance needed to cover the data collection described above.

If you need additional information, please contact Jason Machowski, 2020 Research Coordination Branch, Decennial Management Division, at (301) 763-4173.

Attachments

Attachment A: AQE Focus Groups: Descriptions and Geographic Locations (Excel spreadsheet)

Tab 1 – Description of Focus Groups: Evaluation, Location, and Variation

Tab 2 – Race and Ethnic Groups by Geographic Location